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Job satisfaction and self-employment: Autonomy or personality?
Lange, Thomas
Lange, Thomas
Author
Abstract
Most studies in the economics discourse argue that the impact of self-employment on job satisfaction is mediated by greater procedural freedom and autonomy. Values and personality traits are considered less likely to explain the utility difference between self-employed and salaried workers. Psychology scholars suggest that entrepreneurial satisfaction also depends, at least in part, on specific values and personality traits. Utilising a large dataset derived from the 2006 European Social Survey, this study performs a complementary analysis by taking personality traits, personal values and indicators for workers’ autonomy explicitly into account. The empirical findings add further strength to economists’ argument that, net of values and personality traits, autonomy and independence are the mechanisms by which self-employment leads to higher levels of job satisfaction. These results hold true for both male and female sub-samples even when a multitude of socio-demographic characteristics, personal values and personality traits are controlled for.
Keywords
Date
2012
Type
Journal article
Journal
Small Business Economics: an international journal
Book
Volume
38
Issue
2
Page Range
165-177
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Law and Business
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled